


Petrify My Heart

by KatRina_Sudoka



Category: Borderlands
Genre: A little bit of fluff, Angst, M/M, Possible Handsome Jack because I want to stick closesly to canon, gayperion, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-19 12:36:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7361728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatRina_Sudoka/pseuds/KatRina_Sudoka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes best friend is simply another term for soul mate. This fic follows two clumsy boys slowly figuring out the fine difference between the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. As Much as it Takes

Bullets. Lasers. Monsters. Bandits. Moonshots. That wasn’t even the beginning of everything that could kill them on Pandora. Rhys shut his eyes, rubbing his temple frustratedly. Vaughn was lucky back in the old Atlas building. He had only gotten paralyzed and not a scratch was visible on his body. Yet, why did Rhys feel so devastated? 

The small caravan jostled everyone about as they continued looking for the next Gortys piece. It had been a few hours since they left Vallory’s goons and Vasquez’s corpse, and not one person had even mentioned Vaughn’s condition. All they did was lay him down and go on about their mission. It made Rhys feel sick to know that here he was, alive and perfectly healthy, and the person he cared about most was at risk. Sure, he cared about Sasha and Fiona, even Athena, but Vaughn was family. 

In everything they had gone through together, Vaughn was always there for him no matter what and Rhys was determined to do the same for him. Times were rough back at Hyperion, more so than anyone cared to admit. Rhys smiled to himself as he remembered one particular instance where Vaughn came over to his house after a long day of work. Both boys were exhausted, but Vaughn initiated a finger gun fight, sending them running around and ducking for cover. It ended with Vaughn the clear winner; ending up on top of Rhys on the bed and pressing his finger underneath Rhys’ chin. ‘I win,’ is what Vaughn had said, but Rhys was long gone. He drank in every little detail on Vaughn like the shape of his neck to the small curl of his eyelashes as his breath washed over Rhys. Rhys remembered how his best friend smelled like vanilla and sweat, and how their bodies pressed against one another. The hot, humid air of the caravan was suddenly stifling. Rhys stood up and cleared his throat. 

“Everyone, I think we need to have a meeting. A group meeting.” Everyone turned to him, but no one moved. 

“Yes, of course. I’m kind of driving here, Rhys.” Fiona’s irritated voice floated towards the back. Rhys stood next to the table and looked over at his still frozen friend. 

“Well then, stop driving. This is about someone we know and we aren’t letting them die on our watch.” Rhys stood tall and indignant, surveying the rag-tag team. Loader Bot and Gortys were unaware of the situation down below, still on the roof. Athena stood towards the ladder, bracing herself against it without a word, and Sasha was the only one in the close vicinity. 

“Fi, I think Rhys is right. If we are talking about Vaughn, correct?” She walked closer to Rhys, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him.” Rhys gulped, increasingly aware of how dry his mouth was. He looked at the small accountant nervously. His face was contorted into an awful grimace as his body was stock-still. Vaughn could still move his eyes and looked back at Rhys, making the taller man look away. 

A soft sigh was heard at the front of the caravan. Shortly after, the car rolled to a stop and Fiona reached up to pull shutters over the front windows. It prevented unwanted trespassers from even thinking of spying on them. She pulled the keys out of the ignition right after and shoved them in her pocket. You could never be too careful on Pandora. “Sorry about that. It’s hard being cooped up in here and I just-… I want this whole thing to be over with.” She averted her gaze from Rhys. It wasn’t just hard on everyone else, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk about Vaughn right now. It was all her fault that he was immobile, and worse yet, she was more glad it wasn’t her or Sasha. 

“We’ll make it through this. I’m just not sure about him…” Sasha glanced over at Vaughn. “For starters, he needs to have energy. His eyes can move, surely he can swallow things?” 

Athena cleared her voice carefully before speaking. “We’ll have to try. Maybe we can grab what we can at the next town over for him and for ourselves? It would be reckless to keep going like this, but this is the only detour.” 

“Where is the next town over? It’s not like we have a map,” Fiona spoke up again. 

“I have a map. Yvette downloaded it onto my database. It’s not very useful for minor details, but I can find somewhat civilized places.” Rhys held out his robotic arm, quickly pulling up a hologram map of Pandora. “And by the looks of it, we’re only a few hours away from the nearest town.” 

“Well, what should we grab?” Sasha looked around at everyone. “It has to be something common enough for even psychos to have.” 

“Hm…” Fiona tapped her foot. “What about those meal bars we used to eat when we were little? They were disgusting, but they got us by. Anyone who doesn’t own much or is on the move owns them. We could grab clean drinking water while we’re at it, and if we’re lucky… toilet paper. That small roll we currently have isn’t going to last us long.” 

“Good, sounds like a plan. Anything else,” Rhys asked impatiently. He couldn’t wait to set out again. That meant the faster Vaughn would be taken care of. 

Athena smirked to herself at the amutuer raiders. “Medicine is also a top priority. And don’t get greedy; money can be overlooked today. I’ll alert the robots to the plan and we’ll meet again once we get closer and figure out what town it is exactly to assign roles and figure out our game plan.” And with that she was already climbing out to the top of the caravan. 

“Well, that’s that, we should all rest up a bit. I’ll take the wheel now, so you can rest.” Sasha gave her sister a quick hug and sat down at the driver’s seat. 

“I think you’ll need keys.” Fiona grinned and reached her hand into her pocket. 

“Already got em’.” Sasha smiled widely, jingling them at her now angry sister. It looked like the hug wasn’t just a hug. 

“Two year olds,” Rhys muttered under his breath as he sat down on the couch next to Vaughn and spread his legs out. Fiona and Sasha were constantly trying to out-con each other ever since they started looking for the next Gortys piece. Rhys had the sneaking suspicion that is was more than playfulness on Sasha’s part as Vallory had told them that Fiona was Felix’s favorite. 

“Nngh ru.” Vaughn made a small noise, sounding like he was attempting to talk. Rhys understood him well enough and softly put his human hand on Vaughn’s thigh. 

“You’re welcome, buddy. You’re welcome.”


	2. Trains and Adrenaline Junkies Shouldn't Mix

A soft breeze floated through the air, beckoning memories of childhood summers and lost dreams. Childhood summers Hyperion workers never had, though they understood the faraway goals quite well. Rhys was encased by the drifting wind, slowly opening his eyes. He was sitting on a cliff, the clear blue sky sparkling and stretching out across the entire horizon. It was a sight to behold, certainly better than the one up on Helios where the best view was typically the barren surface of the moon. Small blades of grass curled at Rhys' bare feet and he drew his legs up, leaning back. 

The intoxicating scent of vanilla suddenly overtook him and he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, keeping him up. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Vaughn whispered against the shell of Rhys’ ear lovingly. Rhys shivered as his best friend’s voice resonated all the way down to pool at the center of his stomach. 

“It better be worth it.” Rhys gave a weak chuckle. Vaughn’s arms retreated from Rhys’ body and he felt a pang of longing for them to be back around him again. 

However, he wasn’t disappointed for long. “Well, turn around then.” Vaughn sat there with his hands behind his back. “Close your eyes,” he commanded, leaning in a bit closer. 

Rhys mumbled a weak ”Okay,” and tried to, unsuccessfully, restrain the blush that splayed itself across his face. His mind raced through a million thoughts at once. ‘Is he going to kiss me? Is this it? I am a terrible boyfriend, I haven’t even thought about making the first move.’ A soft hand brushed against Rhys’ cheek, combing a stray strand of hair into place and pulling him closer. ‘Oh boy this is it. I can’t do this, maybe I should back out-' but his thoughts were interrupted by a soft pressure on his head.

He opened one eye, looking up to see a flower crown placed precariously on his head. It was made of beautiful purple flowers speckled with teal dots, giving off a soft iridescent glow. Rhys lifted his left hand up, touching one of the petals gently. The tightly woven plants felt like silk in between his fingers and the sheer beauty of them made him flush even more. 

“I-It’s lame, I know, but I just saw them and thought of you. I don’t want to jump the gun here either in being together. It just seemed like a cute present and it looks absolutely adorable on you.” Vaughn stopped to catch his breath, fumbling around to hold up another flower crown in front of him. 

Rhys took the hint and smiled brightly, taking it from him. “I love it.” He placed the crown on Vaughn’s head. Vaughn gave a soft sigh of relief, the crown casting a gentle glow over him. Seeing his Vaughn happy made Rhys’ heart swell. “And I love you.” He pulled his tiny boyfriend into his lap, kissing him tenderly. Vaughn’s breath hitched before he processed what was happening and kissed Rhys back, tangling his fingers in his wavy hair. 

Vaughn’s glasses bumped against Rhys’ face, but neither boy cared, being too engrossed in each other. The world seemed to melt away and all that mattered to Rhys was how soft Vaughn’s lips were, how his hands sensually roamed his back, and how Vaughn’s tongue was slowly making it’s way past his lips. 

“V-Vaughn.” Rhys moaned into the kiss, parting his lips and sending his own tongue forward. He could just stay here forever, tangled together with his favorite human being in the entire universe.

“Pandora to Rhys? Hello, big mission coming up.” 

“Gggh- Wha-?” Rhys awoke with a start, his hand slipping from under his chin and causing his face fall onto the table. 

“C’mon loverboy, it’s time to go.” Fiona crossed her arms, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. 

“Loverboy…?” Memories of his dream flooded back to Rhys and he snapped up, looking around. He had fallen asleep on the couch, meaning Vaughn would be inches away and there to behold the wonders of his dream.

“Relax, we took him outside for some fresh air.” Fiona chuckled and pressed her hand on her forehead, pretending to swoon. “Oh Vaughn, listen to me moan and drool over you in my sleep.”

Rhys frowned, quickly wiping stray drool from his chin. It seemed like the hit to his face wasn’t hard enough to ‘wake’ Handsome Jack up this time.

“I’m just messing with you. We’re here, and you get to be someone’s knight in mismatched armor. We’re all outside when you’re ready.” And just like that she was gone, leaving Rhys to himself. 

‘Best friends are allowed to have dreams of each other like that. It means nothing.’ Rhys brushed himself off, trying to calm his irregular heartbeat. ‘He also appears to have not been there while I may or may not have talked in my sleep. He wasn’t here. And even if he was it was just a dream. Those things are virtually uncontrollable. He wasn’t here.’ After thoroughly reassuring himself, he brushed his fingers through his hair and stepped out of the caravan. 

Harsh, glaring sunlight beamed down on him, causing him to squint. Everyone was outside, standing around in a circle. Vaughn was nearby, propped up by a lone tree. ‘At least he’s in the shade,' thought Rhys to himself. 

“Geez, Rhys, I thought we were going to bake out here.” Sasha stood confidently with a hand on her hip. Her brilliant green eyes narrowed at him. “Had to get your beauty rest, huh?”

“What is it with you and Fiona being so snarky? Is that just part of the job,” Rhys countered jokingly, taking note of the huge box in Sasha's other hand. 

“Yes.” Both sisters replied at the same time without missing a beat. 

“Of course it is… But how about we go to whatever this place is called before we actually turn into roasted skag meat out here?” Rhys ran his fingers through his hair nervously again. Getting supplies was one thing, but they parked a little ways from the town so not to arouse suspicion from the citizens. It made his stomach flop to think about how many ways this could go wrong. 

Athena stepped forward, an expression as stoic as ever on her face. “All right, don’t botch the plan up or we’re all goners. Lynchwood is a terrible town filled with terrible people just like anywhere else, with only one way in or out. The train tunnel. As soon as a train passes we bolt and haul ourselves up onto the station platform. From there, Sasha will draw the attention of the townspeople while Fiona and Rhys loot their houses. I’ll be waiting here in the van with everyone else. If they catch a vault hunter like me we’re all as good as dead. Loader Bot, you’re in charge of Gortys and Vaughn inside the van with me. Everyone good?” 

“What- uh, What medicine would be good to look for? To help with paralysis?” Rhys felt like kicking himself at how awkward he sounded. 

“Grab everything.” Athena stood up a bit straighter and the group parted ways. Rhys turned to give one last glance at Vaughn, who was being carried back to the van by Loader Bot. 

Before he knew what was happening, a plain brown bag was thrown in Rhys’ face. “Somewhere to put the loot, dummy.” Fiona, the perpetrator, suppressed a smile as Sasha giggled in the background at Rhys’ dumbfounded face. 

“My god, you really are new to this, aren’t you?” Sasha twirled her gun around on one finger. 

Rhys merely harrumphed and trudged on. Even with the tunnel so close in sight, the few minutes in the heat were unbearable. Sand was kicked up as the trio walked, floating around and threatening to go in every orifice they had. No one had the bravado to walk on the train tracks nearby in fear of an oncoming train from either direction.

It was a sweet relief for everyone when they nearly made it into the tunnel. The van was a tiny dot in the background and was only identifiable if you were looking for it. The relief didn’t last long, however, as a train whistle sounded in the distance. 

“You have got to be kidding me.” Rhys rubbed his temple frustratedly as the train roared closer and closer. 

“It’ll just take a few seconds,” Sasha said, perking up a little. She placed her gun on her waistband slowly. The train was passing right in front of their faces now, a blur of dull reds and yellows. “Just a few seconds...” 

“Sasha-“ Fiona’s eyes widened, but she had no time to react as her dearly beloved sister hooked one hand on the caboose of the train. Sasha boosted herself up onto the ledge and was carried away. 

“Sasha! Hey!” Fiona cursed under her breath and took off after the train immediately. 

Concerned about Sasha, with a twinge of not wanting to be left behind, Rhys sprinted after both girls. His human eye strained as he and Fiona entered the tunnel, the cyber one adjusting to the shift of light right away. They fumbled along the tracks, trying not to trip desperately. The air of the tunnel felt worse than the heat outside, but was much much cooler. After a few seconds, they reached the station, the train sounding long gone. 

“Over here!” Sasha stood up on the platform, waving her arm not bogged down by the box and smiling. The station appeared empty; things might just go according to plan for once.

“I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You.” Fiona jogged to a halt, stooping down with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. 

“I’m going to kill you a second time,” Rhys chimed in vehemently, also panting. 

That seemed to only make Sasha smile more. “C’mon, guys, live a little. You two may have your differences, but I’ll be damned if you’re both not the most uptight people I know. Then again Felix is a close third.” She scrunched up her nose before setting her box down and moving closer to the edge of the platform. 

“Just… Help me up.” Fiona held her hand up, calming her initial anger. She was just glad her sister was safe. 

“I don’t want another train coming by when we’re stuck down here.” Rhys tried to grab the side of the platform and haul himself up, only to slip back down. 

Sasha rolled her eyes and took Fiona’s hand, swiftly pulling her to safety. “See, I’m not just a total adrenaline junkie. You two couldn’t even make it up here without my help.” She extended a hand down to Rhys as well. 

“I can make it.” He shook his head. After a few more minutes of flailing and trying desperately, he sighed and gave up. Sasha offered her hand again. 

With a groan, Rhys begrudgingly accepted her offer and managed to get onto the platform with them. “I forgot to mention, what’s with the box?” He reached for the small container, only to get his hand swatted away. 

“Don’t touch. You’d think you’d have learned our priceless artifacts are fragile. You won’t believe what a couple of stones and drakefruit juice can do,” Fiona answered.

“Oh right, because jumping onto a train is treating things delicately. Typical Pandorans.” 

“You do realize I could probably knock you out with this, right?” Sasha clenched her jaw and raised the box menacingly. 

“How about we fight in a less life or death situation?” Fiona stood between them. “As much as I would like to see Rhys’ teeth knocked out, we have a goal here.”

“It was my bad, I didn’t mean it in a terrible way. You guys just have this certain... grit about you. Hyperion might be tough, but it doesn’t rely on manual labor.” 

“Case in point, your cybernetics couldn’t help you up. I’m willing to call it even for now.” Sasha lowered her arm and quickly reverted back to her usual self. “We should go or I might feel like jumping on another train again.” 

“Please don’t.” Fiona started up the stairs leading to the center of Lynchwood. Sasha and Rhys followed her closely. Lynchwood was an old west type town with a sheriff and everything. The place was corrupted with ruffians of all walks of life, but their thirst for loot united them. It made the place highly volatile, but the group had no choice but to rely on it for supplies. 

“You two really have no faith in me, do you?” Sasha was only met with blank faces. “I-… won’t argue that since I’ll admit I went rogue even if I did save our butts. Stay safe, you guys.” 

She walked out to the right side of the train tracks since it split right through the middle of main street. Rhys and Fiona would wait until she had captured a majority of the residents attention before striking. 

“Hey, Rhys…?” Fiona spoke tentatively, looking out of the station’s window and at her sister. 

“What is it?” Rhys silently prayed that this wasn’t about the fiasco that just happened. 

“I’m sorry. About Vaughn. It was all just such a blur and I would have saved him if I could’ve. It just feels like it’s my fault. One second I see a robot aimed at me and I’m safe, but at the expense of a friend.” 

Rhys sighed softly. “But what’s done is done. What’s important is that all of us are here for him now and we’re doing the best we can. That’s all we’ve been doing,” he said.

“Thank you.” Fiona knew her closure could only truly come from healing Vaughn, but she would take what she could. 

Rhys filled the silence quickly. “Well, it looks like a good majority is out there. And it looks like they came from the houses on the left.” Sasha had an enraptured crowd around her, all oggling at the unopened box like it was Christmas candy. 

“Time to go then. I’ll take the first few houses, you take the others.” Fiona stood up, keeping a low crouch as she ran off. Rhys followed suit quietly, his heart feeling like it would thump out of his chest. 

The first few houses were easy hits: a couple of meal bars, bandages, a limited variation of medicine, water, and one sleeping mask, but the fourth and final one was too tempting. Rhys opened the bathroom cabinet of the fourth house to find it overflowing with medicine. His bag was nearly full, but he crammed it all in, desperate to find something that would work. He even took out a few meal bars in favor of the brightly colored capsules. 

Rhys couldn’t wait to get back to the caravan and share his spoils with Vaughn. He was about to step out of the door when a container on the kitchen counter caught his eye. He scanned it to confirm it’s insides, blessing whatever god was out there for it when the bandit walked in.

 

“Where is he?” Fiona stared at the small house expectantly. She finished before Rhys and waited back at the station for him. Sasha was still showcasing her fake goods from the box, but it was clear the crowd was growing weary as she sold more and more fake artifacts. “Oh no.” A bandit was headed straight for the same house Rhys was in. 

She shouldered her full pack and made a beeline for the house, getting her gun ready. The door was open, the repugnant scent of blood filling her nostrils. Wincing, Fiona covered her nose and stepped inside. The bandit had flopped onto its bed, either dead or asleep, and there was no sign of the ex-Hyperion worker. 

“Rhys,” Fiona hissed, searching around desperately. 

A nearby kitchen cupboard slowly creaked open. Fiona winced again, keeping her eyes on the bed-ridden bandit as Rhys slowly emerged. He tip-toed to her closely, accidentally hitting the door with a violent “thump!”.

The bandit, jumped up, aware and alert. “Who’s disturbing my sleep?” It grabbed its gun and shot at the two thieves. 

Rhys and Fiona ran right out into the open, the sound of gunshots following them. They ran up onto the bridge that stood above the train tracks directly. 

“Time to go!” Fiona yelled at Sasha. Sasha nodded and dropped the box, running to them. The citizens of Lynchwood slowly understood what was going on and brought their guns out. 

They all ducked for cover, Sasha occasionally reaching up to shoot. 

“What now?” Sasha asked over the sound of gunfire and shouts. 

“Now…” Rhys hesitated. The whistle of a train sounded nearby again. There was only one option. 

“Now we jump!” Fiona answered for him, gripping the rails tightly. 

All three of them shot each other uneasy glances as the train started to whizz beneath them. They stood up, and jumped, praying for things to be okay. 

Rhys squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact. This was it, they were all goners. But the train never came, and he felt a familiar metal arm holding him up. Loader Bot held all of them in his arms and protected them from the rain of bullets. They were safe for just another day. Rhys tilted his head back and nearly let out a tear of happiness. Vaughn just might be able to be healed after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking an entire week with this one, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I'm also sorry for the major lack of Vaughn here, I didn't mean to pull a Telltale, but he'll be written more next time; That's a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic published on Archive of Our Own and I would love the some feedback. I know where I'm going with the story, but I don't know how long it'll be and will try to update every week. Thanks for reading and enjoy.


End file.
